Category: Archive

Smile, pain at the pump has pay-offs

admin /15 July, 2007

Sydney Morning Herald – May 6, 2006 

ONE good thing about next week’s federal budget is that even though Peter Costello is flush with cash and likely to offer tax relief to families, he’s unlikely to make any cut in the tax on petrol. That’s a good thing because we must learn to live with high petrol prices, not find ways to duck them.

With prices nudging $1.40 a litre in some cities and Costello warning that worries about the Iranian nuclear stand-off could push them up to $1.60, the motoring lobbies are looking for ways to ease the pain. The Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, for instance, wants Costello to remove the GST on fuel excise, saving about 3.4 cents a litre.

But, whichever way you look at it, cutting the tax on petrol would be the wrong way to go. For a start, there’s the conventional economists’ argument that the best response to higher prices is higher prices.

Huh? When you think about it, it’s not as meaningless as it sounds. Prices rise when the demand for something is growing faster than its supply. Although part of the rise in oil prices is based on speculation about disruption in the Middle East, and so may not last long, the underlying increase in demand is coming from the rapid growth in the economies of China, India and other developing countries. This is likely to keep upward pressure on oil prices for many years.

Caltex joins call for petrol price rise

admin /15 July, 2007

Petrol supplier, Caltex, has flagged that it will ask the Australian Federal Government for a petrol price rise of ten cents to address the cost of complying with emission trading schemes. The RACV’s David Cummings has expressed the view that the focus should remain on coal fired power stations. “Drivers are already facing enough taxes. Continue Reading →

Wholesale elecricity prices treble

admin /15 July, 2007

Wholesale electricity prices have been surging and have nearly trebled in just six months according to Energy Users of Australia Association executive director, Roman Domanski, reported The Courier Mail (2/7/2007, p.24).

Lid on the volcano: The price in early January was around $33 per megawatt/hour. Today it is closer to $90. Domanski said those increases will put pressure on the regulated price. "It’s politicians trying to keep a lid on a volcano," he said. "And they can only do that up to a point. The way the volcano is going to erupt is (either an electricity) retailer is going to go bust or says it won’t supply mums and dads." The Energy Retailers Association of Australia also believed the State Government should remove the mandated maximum price. "Ultimately, we believe the market will be most effective when price caps are removed and market-based pricing is adopted across the board," ERAA’s executive director Cameron O’Reilly said recently.

The drought factor: The government, however, was holding firm. "We’re not removing the price cap," Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said emphatically. Wilson, and the Queensland Competition Authority which sets the official retail electricity price, pointed to the drought as a significant, but hopefully temporary, reason for the currently high wholesale prices.

Global Warming Swindle Alright

admin /15 July, 2007

 

Climate change has been at the centre of international diplomacy since the late nineteen eighties, when the accord eventually signed in Rio De Janeiro in 1992 was first negotiated. The voluntary targets built into the Rio Treaty allowed governments to do whatever they though necessary to return their emissions to 1990 levels. By 1995 it was obvious that voluntary targets had not worked and they were replaced with binding ones designed to give developing countries room for economic growth. These binding targets were eventually thrashed out in Kyoto in December 1997 – almost a decade ago.

 

In Australia, the CSIRO and relevant Federal Government departments produced a plan to return Australia to its 1990 emissions level and sign up to the Kyoto agreement. Papers written from 1989 to 1996 are all written on the assumption that as a developed nation we would shoulder our share of the responsibility and help in the battle against global warming.

After the election of a Coalition Government in late 1996, the rules changed.

Don’t be swindled

admin /12 July, 2007

By Barry Brook

The Great Global Warming Swindle ‘documentary’ purports to prove that the warming we have experienced over the last century is, in fact, unrelated to the more than 300 billion tonnes of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases that we have released into the atmosphere since the furnaces of the industrial revolution were first lit. Instead, producer Martin Durkin points the finger squarely at natural changes in the sun.

On the face of it, GGWS appears convincing enough. It follows the style of many well-respected documentaries, with a faceless (and, by implication, objective) narrator, a cadre of well-credentialed experts, and considerable supporting evidence.

Yet in reality, GGWS is a deeply deceptive and propagandist portrayal of the science of global warming. This is not really surprising, when you consider that Durkin was previously reprimanded by the UK Independent Television Commission for using selective editing to misrepresent and distort the views of interviewees in his earlier anti-environmentalist documentary, Against Nature.

Howard misquotes EU on climate change

admin /12 July, 2007

Also of Interest

EU condemns Australia’s climate attitude

Peter Garrett says Mr Howard is cherry picking EU progress on emissions.

Labor says it agrees with the European Union’s comments accusing Australia of allowing political pride to dominate decisions on climate change.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas says pride is the only reason the Howard Government has not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol.

Mr Dimas also says Australia has a negative attitude on negotiations about climate change.

Prime Minister John Howard has rejected that, saying he will not take criticism from the EU when 12 of the 15 countries in the bloc have not met their emissions targets.